Comments

Christopher

Your take on what local boards can do in modern society is more than a bit simplified. What you can legally do and where your money comes from are two different things. IF, and I say IF, any local school could ignore Federal and State mandates, I assure you all funding from those sources would also cease. Then what? Like it or not, they own the system now.

Steiner

Mr Lewis, apparently you did not read Paul Christophers defining the public employee article. Paul believes, quite wrongly, of the superiority of the public employee.That is why the public employees and their minions, the teachers union have taken over the education system. they wish to perpetuate the dumbness if not mental illness of our public employees and transfer that right into the gullible minds of children. Any disagreement is labeled hatred, partisanship, non compromising, etc.Paul even said life would come to a stop, if not for the public employee. So Mr Lewis, we see the problem in macrocosm in your article. In microcosm, it is in the mind of Paul Christopher, public employee advocate. They want our kids folks !

judeye

It is a set of core standards that students should be able to master in each grade. The purpose of the common core is to set "a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them"

Our state adopted these common core standards which to me from reviewing them seems only logical.

I suggest rather than going to TEA meetings to get your information you try reading up on what these standards are, why they were established, and how we all can help students master each level.

Steiner

judeye is talking about the children again , and again. hey judeye, you miss always in your liberal wit the complete lack of choice in our schools. even learned christopher ignores it. why is that ?The sacered public employee who we cannot live without ? Is it only your way judeye , tolerant liberal that you proclaim ? Or is choice only for women as they need perpetual help from the govt. why 4 inch heels are a problem now, govt intervention needed again for our liberated gals. So judeye, please tell us why we cannot have choice other than abortions. Is this the liberal spirit of compromise ? what if we do not want to genuflect before the govt employee judeye ? Let us know your thoughts .

Christopher

Judeye, Common Core, "No Child Left behind" and every single similar efforts and demands on the part of the Federal and State governments is the reason behind what they're trying to fix. Government mandates and Liberal education trends have destroyed our educational system and it's bankrupting localities and taxpayers.

bob1957

The Common Core Standards were created through the US Governors Conference because we had no national standard. It became obvious to families that moved about our nation that each STATE's standard was markedly different. The Governor's and State's Education Commissioner's felt it was responsible to create a national standard for all children to achieve a common knowledge base. Then with this guy writing we here the TAXPAYER oh the almighty TAXPAYER, Lord give it a rest. This is a matter for experts- educational experts and I am sure your NOT an expert. The common core is to equalize and raise the standard of knowledge for the 21st century not the horse and buggy days our Amish friends do not attend our schools. This commentary has to be one of the most useless pieces of written word I have seen in a long time. The taxpayer, drivel.

Steiner

we have an interesting statement just made by Obama about the dividing character of protestant and catholic education . If religious education is shoved aside, what is left ? why public education. The public employee unions dream. Hey for once, I have to agree with christopher, every govt program is doing exactly what christopher said.Why cant we have choice, repeated endlessly for women but never for schools ?

Christopher

Personally, I don't think the Federal Government should have anything to say about education state to state. If some idiot in the south wants to teach Creationism as a scientific fact, and people think that's just nuts (like I do), then I guess they'll move. It could become the great equalizer, causing a huge migration of the educated to places where education is at it's best. But then, we can't even maintain even levels between schools in the same state, so who knows? But then, schools used to be able to just teach. Now schools have to teach, parent, counsel...where does it stop?

Christopher

Steiner, please, NEVER agree with me! It worries me. 16 replies to my last Column, 3 from your pal Phil Julian, a couple from Joew, and each and every one of you totally missing the entire point of the article, not a surprise, and latching onto to whatever your obsessions are. Not a surprise at all. I told a friend that some people are like trained seals, you throw them a fish, and they sit up and bark while clapping their fins. To you and Phil and Joe, I say, "Arf, arf!!"

IAMBill

PR24601

Teaching to a standard stifles true learning. Teachers are hamstrung to the standardized tests, especially when incentives and job security are tied to students' performance. Rather than truly educate and inspire children to learn, the ritual du jour becomes "we have to have this mastered - it will be on the test!"

Now, education becomes a source of fear, and an indicator of failure, rather than a self-exploration to discover one's own talents. Which may not be test-taking! Maybe it's plumbing, carpentry, wiring, who knows. It's a real DISservice to those children for whom college is not the right path. They aren't failures, they have a different skill set.

Get the government OUT of education - all they've shown is that they can *&^% up anything they get their hands on.

Dcronlg

If there was ever a single justification for improving educational standards, simply reading the logic thoughts processes, the attempt at critical thinking, the poor use of grammar, the wholly incorrect historical contexts of US education and socialism...then this column and its author are its poster child.

And yet, its drivel is unsurprising; today's so-called Tea Party has more to do with Shay's Rebellion than it ever has to do with the Boston Tea Party -- TPers can't even get that right, so what ever would give them any credibility with anything they say???

Dcronlg

Our schools have been operating under one form or another of de facto national standardization for decades, anywhere from Iowa Basics to PSAT/SAT/ACT to now AP courses. To suddenly feign righteous indignation at the mere idea of national standards is goofy.

A year doesn't go by where US students are outperformed in almost all areas of education, esp STEM, by students from EU and Pac-Rim countries with quite rigorous national standards. The gap is obvious and glaring -- given the increasing leveling of the global economy playing field, we are looking at a serious long term strategic disadvantage So, this notion of "local control" is as quaint & hopeless out of date as our school year, modeled when we are a heavily agrarian society & kids needed the summers to work the fields. These days, how many kids work the fields??

Christopher

DC, I agree but there's been a sea change in what so-called standards have become. Before any sort of current standards were devised, we first allowed a total and rather rapid dumbing down and easing of standard and basic requirements. Now, after creating a situation where college students on average need at least a year of remedial work before truly starting their degree requirements, something is seriously amiss. And, comparing our schools to other countries isn't fair. They do a SERIOUS culling before High School. So, you compare an average US Senior class, the overseas comparative is only our top 50% or so. NOT FAIR! Looking at who invents what, we still are at the top of the heap in an awful lot of categories.

PR24601

Dcronlg, you leave out one very important factor when reciting this "American students are outperformed" mantra - in those countries, the trade school kids, the farmers, the sport institute kids, they AREN'T TAKING THE TESTS! We are comparing ALL Americans against only their college-bound tracts. It's not a fair comparison.

Leave your "America *****" attitude at the door. All you liberals do is spout off about how great Europe is. It's not. They're rioting in the streets. They have worse employment than the USA. The EU is going bankrupt. Despite all that's wrong, we've got to be doing something right in the USA.

American

All I was doing was trying to get you to stop calling people cowards because they don't do like you do. Is that a bad thing? Must be 90% on here are cowards under that thinking. But I will still call you Christopher without bastardizing your name. I'll be the bigger person.

judeye

The publisher of this paper told me himself he cannot get COLLEGE grads who can write! To me that is a disgrace.

How would any of you fix it, if not by using some kind of standards, of where the kids should be at each grade level?

With all the moving around, company transfers, and the unity we need as a country in order to compete on the international market, I think it is imperative we have standards as one COUNTRY. I would hate to be transferred to a state that teaches that the world is really only 6,000 years old.

Before you just click disagree...answer what you would do to improve the outcomes of our schools if not using some core standards.

RipleyResident

Judeye - The federal gov is far to involved in everything. Border security, gun control, healthcare, welfare, and education. The states should individually determine these things. As Christopher said, if you don't like what a state has to offer, don't live there. Federal government is far too big.

American

"Equity – Education For All promotes the redistribution of world wealth so that ultimately, no locality or individual has ownership over his/her own earnings, and global government owns all, so that global government can ensure fair distribution to all. This is not voluntary sharing; this is punishable, forced redistribution– it is legalized stealing of local taxes, by governments abroad.

Measurability – this means increased surveillance and testing of all teachers and students so that all can be compared and controlled by the global governance.

Finance – In the powerpoint presentation that was given at a Brussels, Belgium meeting last month, ‘Education post-2015: Equity, measurability and finance’, you can see that it is the United States that is being told to “donate” to make this global educational governance possible. Annually, the U.S. should “donate” 53 billion, the powerpoint presentation states."